Content Marketing means creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers. The type of content you share is closely related to what you sell; in other words, you’re educating people so that they know, like, and trust you enough to do business with you.

If you’re interested in marketing your business online you can’t escape hearing about content marketing. It’s everywhere you look, or listen.

You’ve most likely heard the term content marketing thrown around industry events, your favourite trade magazine or maybe even a few of your close business associates have referenced content marketing as a tool for growing their own business.

But the most important question is: Does content marketing work?

We all know the story of HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software company that practically invented content marketing. They generate about 50,000 leads per month for their business by developing and distributing e-books, infographics, blog posts and other pieces of content marketing designed to drive new leads to their website.

But driving a lead to a website is one thing. Actually converting that lead into a customer is another.

The horrible answer is, it depends.

Content marketing done right, works everytime.

Content marketing could either be the best thing ever or just a waste of time. It all starts with great content followed up by a well-planned and well-executed marketing plan.Sebastian Johnsson – Creator of Smartlend.se, Sweden’s leading comparison website for smslånand snabblån.

In a recent study done by the Content Marketing Institute, 42% of B2B companies consider their content marketing efforts effective, up from 36% the year prior.

The “publish and pray” method implemented by businesses attending to DIY content marketing, does not work. At least it does not work well enough to produce any time of positive ROI. Truthfully, it’s not the companies fault, its the “just hit publish” advice spread throughout the Internet by hack content marketing consultants.

Our friends at Atlanta-based advertising agency and digital marketing firm MLT Creative have answered that question in the infographic below. The data was gathered at the HubSpot Inbound Marketing Conference and compiled by the good folks at MLT.

Here are just some of the facts and figures about content marketing and inbound marketing that you’ll find in the infographic:

Growth: Marketers using inbound marketing have grown from 60% of those surveyed in 2013 to 80% of those surveyed in 2014.

Cost Per Lead: The average cost per lead for B2B companies using inbound marketing was typically less than half of what the cost per lead was for those not using inbound marketing.

Prioritization: Marketers prioritizing inbound marketing are 13 times more likely to enjoy positive ROI than those not prioritizing inbound marketing.

The most successful Content Marketing campaigns always originate from within. This is called, “Insourcing.” You know your business, your customers, the questions they ask and the problems your company solves better than any outside source.

But if your business is going to be successful, everyone must believe in content marketing. When entire organizations embrace the content marketing culture there is a stream of content, which consistently converts visitors in leads, and leads in sales.

There are over 27,000,000 pieces of content being shared every day, but did you know that 60-70 percent of content produced by B2B marketing goes unused? Why? Most often it’s due to common content marketing mistakes like not knowing who you’re producing content for, trying too hard to sell with your content, and other content mishaps.

Content marketing is not easy. Sure, it sounds that way on paper — publish some content, reach out to influencers, go viral, rinse/repeat — but that’s because most people only ever see the results of a good content marketing campaign, not the creation process itself.

In reality, content marketing requires lots of coordination, time and energy investments, and solid research. Most veteran marketers have learned all about these processes the hard way, by doing it wrong the first time then making corrections.

As a beginner in content marketing, you may be making some common content marketing mistakes.

Here are some of the common beginner mistakes in content marketing and what you can do to improve your content creation and reach a wider audience:

1. Do not have a plan or clear goals and strategiesYour business plan will dictate your content strategy. You need to know what your objectives are or why you are creating content. As a follow up, you also need to know who your target audience is to be able to create content that fits their needs. You need to develop buyer personas which will allow you to anticipate and meet the needs of your audience.

2. Don’t Know Your AudienceOne of our biggest challenges is to create and deliver content that people actually want to consume. With so much competing for their attention, if your content can’t break through the noise, it’ll never be seen.

3. Confusing Content with Ads or Sales CopyThe content you create is not an advertisement for your company, or your product, or your service. Content is merely an expression of ideas and values relevant to both your business and your customers.

“The content that consumers are going to find most valuable is the kind that they are already looking for,” Honoway says.

4. Scrimping on quality writingDo not take content creation too lightly and assume it is something you can do whenever you have spare time. Do not also assume that you can just crank out as much as you can and call it valuable content. Remember, quality trumps quantity. Take time and go over your work but keep the publishing pace consistent. Once a month is better than once every week and then you stop for two months. That kind of inconsistency won’t get consumers to trust your brand.

How do you get better at content marketing? First, you need to do it yourself. Second, you need to read about best practices from people who have already succeeded.

The value of smart, complex content marketing strategy can’t be overstated. Whether you want to jumpstart your own business efforts, target a more specific audience, or just make sure you’re up to date with cutting-edge insights in a rapidly changing field, look to the leaders for wisdom.

As our aim is to help you improve business value by improving customer value through content marketing, we hope that pointing you to as many content marketing resources, enables you to achieve these goals. That’s why we created this list of content marketing blogs. Time to add your favourite ones so everyone can benefit. After all, this is the age of the collaboration economy. Hopefully it helps but please do help too!

On that note, here are 6 must-read blogs you’ll want to bookmark and keep a close eye on in the year ahead:

1. BufferBuffer is a web-based tool that enables users to manage social media shares, but its blog offers excellent posts on social media marketing, analytics, and tools. Known for its transparency, Buffer is quick to share analyses of its own data and company practices.

3. KISSmetricsBest known for their web analytics solution, KISSmetrics also has a killer blog that provides very detailed posts about analytics, marketing, and testing—with tons of examples and data to back up any conclusions.

4. Content Marketing InstituteThe Content Marketing Institute is known for its leadership in the industry, and its blog is no exception. If you’re looking for content marketing best practices, up-to-date research and reports, nitty-gritty how-to posts, and content that’ll help move the industry forward, look no further than the CMI blog.

5. DigidayNot only does Digiday offer honest information on digital media and marketing, it often goes out on a limb by asking intriguing questions and making bold insights. Satisfy your curiosity with the site’s blog posts, which always approach brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms from novel angles.

6. MozWho better to get SEO and inbound marketing information from than a leader in the industry? Moz blog offers tips, tricks, and strategies for improving your content and brand marketing, as well as search and social.